These days there is more than meets the eye in the Caribbean when it comes to vacations, warm weather, sandy beaches and blue oceans. The sex trafficking industry has become part of the economy of sex tourism. However, the business of sex trafficking is becoming a worldwide epidemic that no one is safe from. The “Demand” report focused on Jamaica, Japan, The Netherlands and the United States on the business of sex trafficking and sex tourism.

The report and documentary titled ‘Demand’, from the women and children advocacy organisation, Shared Hope International, was an investigative research in Jamaica, Japan, The Netherlands and the United States, focusing on the business of sex trafficking and sex tourism.

SHI’s 12 month investigation of commercial sexual exploitation in the culturally, economically, and historically diverse nations of Jamaica, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States revealed that each country shares a culture of tolerance allowing major markets for local and international sex tourism and trafficking to flourish. In the United States, the investigations in Atlanta, Las Vegas and Washington, DC found that large numbers of American children are prostituted on the streets, through escort services, and in pornography and erotic dancing, and large numbers of American men are buying these services.

Comments

Aren’t we glad to know that it can’t happen in Aruba … or, perhaps, that nobody in Aruba, faced with the question of what to do with a girl given date-rape drugs, might have THOUGHT would provide an answer.

Why can’t other countries follow suit. Poverty
is no excuse. There are other ways to create
jobs for the poor other than to allow your young
citizens to be marketed on your streets and in
your business centers.

In the case of Jamaica, this has been going on
for years. They are famous for catering to the
homosexual male. As a result of this, many won’t
travel there; which is evident in the decline in
tourism they have experienced over the years.

The advertising of “anything you desire” has made
Jamaica full of nightclubs that have no limits on
what a customer is allowed to do. Many of their
clubs encourage nudity (mostly men) in an orgy
atmosphere with loud music, dancing lights and
ecstacy a plenty.

Is there no limit to what these countries will do
in their struggle to lear tourists?

Some of the prostitution took place in Jacksonville, agents say. The women reportedly came to Florida from Central America.

By Paul Pinkham, The Times-Union

Federal authorities have busted a statewide sex trafficking ring in which Central American women said they were smuggled into Florida and forced into prostitution in Jacksonville and other cities.

FBI and immigration agents made four arrests last week, including a man accused of heading the Jacksonville end of the ring, and two Colombian immigrants who agents said drove and housed women in Jacksonville. They and a man identified as the Tampa head of the organization are charged in Tallahassee with importing, transporting and harboring illegal aliens for prostitution and financial gain.

The women were brought to Florida under the guise of getting work as maids or bartenders but were forced into prostitution at apartment complexes in Jacksonville, Tampa, Tallahassee and Orlando, according to an arrest affidavit signed by Senior Special Agent William Maxey of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

An indictment unsealed last week in Tallahassee said the women were rotated from city to city and required to have multiple sex acts with multiple partners every day. Federal prosecutors said the men promoted the prostitution ring with business cards and cell phones and kept the $30 per sex act the women were told to charge. The women were picked up in Texas, the indictment says.

A fifth man, also from Colombia, was convicted by a Tallahassee jury in May of seven related counts. Jorge Wilmar Melchor is awaiting sentencing Oct. 15.

Melchor was arrested in 2006 after two Guatemalan women fled his Tallahassee home and told a neighbor they were being forced to work as prostitutes. The women testified they were taken to apartment complexes populated by alien workers, said Melchor’s attorney, Armando Garcia.

“My understanding of how this works is they service strictly the Latin community,” Garcia said Tuesday.

Witnesses interviewed for Melchor’s case told agents about others involved in human trafficking in other cities, including Carlos Andres Monsalve, who Maxey testified ran the organization from Tampa. He said Monsalve began smuggling women into the United States in 2005 and told them they had to work as prostitutes to pay his smuggling fees.

Also arrested were:

- Fabio Perez, a Colombian immigrant who witnesses said drove prostitutes to and from Jacksonville and ran the organization in Monsalve’s absence.

- Jorge Enrique Londono, also known as Alvara Prado, who agents said formerly ran the Jacksonville end of the ring.

- Luz Karime Ramos Teran, also known as La Negra, who prosecutors said housed women in Jacksonville.

A sixth defendant, whose name has been kept secret and who is cooperating with agents, told Maxey he normally met Londono and Perez between Jacksonville and Tampa for the purpose of exchanging prostitutes.

Maxey said video surveillance in Jacksonville last month shows Monsalve and Perez driving women to apartment complexes occupied by Hispanic men. The video shows them entering the apartment with the women and staying for about 30 minutes.

“This type of behavior is consistent with statements from witnesses of how Fabio and Monsalve delivered prostitutes to customers,” Maxey said.

Maxey said one prostitute told agents Perez ran the organization while Monsalve was out of the country. The woman said some women brought in $1,500 a week.

Garcia estimated about two dozen women were involved in the ring. He said he argued during Melchor’s trial that the women were willing participants.

The article that begins this thread cites the Netherlands. Remember Amy Bradley, who went missing in Curacao the day after crew members wanted to bring her to Carlos ‘n’ Charlies….

And, of course, Aruba.

Robert on
September 28th, 2007 1:31 pm

“In the United States, the investigations in Atlanta, Las Vegas and Washington, DC found that large numbers of American children are prostituted on the streets, through escort services, and in pornography and erotic dancing, and large numbers of American men are buying these services.”

This is a worldwide problem. Does anyone has – realistic – ideas to solve this?

Donald Symank on
September 28th, 2007 5:18 pm

Is this what happened to Claudia Kirschhoch?

JennaBush@yahoo.com on
September 28th, 2007 11:26 pm

“I had the opportunity to meet some great Jamaicans who are advocating on issues relating to HIV, fighting stigma and discrimination against persons who are infected, and those who are fighting against violence in their communities,” Jamaica and Aruba are safe countries..said Bush,

Ray on
September 29th, 2007 2:24 am

If sex trafficking can happen in the Jamaica,Japan,Netherlands and the USA,I would like for someone to tell me why it could not explain the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.
I have been reading in news magizines for over thirty years about women being trafficked in central and south america.
It can happen also Happen in Aruba.

PARAMARIBO, Suriname: A human trafficking ring has been successfully dismantled, authorities in Suriname have disclosed. Several suspects, including the ringleader, have been arrested, police spokesman inspector John Jones told reporters.

The gang allegedly provided fake residence permits and other documents for illegal Chinese immigrants. According to the police, the suspects were requesting between US$1,500 and US$2,000 for the documents.

Meanwhile, a number of illegal Chinese nationals who had the false documents in their possession and several gang members have been incarcerated.

“At this moment, we (the police) won’t disclose the number of individuals we have arrested, since the investigation is ongoing and we can’t risk jeopardizing it,” said the police spokesman.

He further disclosed that the gang were using forged signatures of justice minister Chandrikapersad Santokhi and other officials, while they also used fake stamps of several government agencies.

The main suspect, Floren Daniels, was arrested Sunday by officers of the SWAT-team of the Suriname Police Force (KPS). Shortly after police received information on the illegal activities, judicial authorities launched a thorough investigation and subsequently issued a wanted bulletin for Daniels, while an international warrant against the main suspect has been issued by Interpol.

It is widely suspected that, more frequently, human traffickers are conducting their illegal trade in and through Suriname. Speculations about Chinese criminal gangs, the so-called Snake Heads involved in trafficking and other illegal activities in Suriname are on the rise , but so far investigations by the authorities have been unsuccessful.

It is alleged that numerous Chinese immigrants who entered the country either legally or illegally are victims of human smugglers and traffickers. Chinese nationals transiting Suriname risk debt bondage to migrant smugglers; men are exploited in forced labor and women in commercial sexual exploitation.

For the past several years, the government made significant efforts to fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. Authorities increased law enforcement actions, improved efforts to identify and assist victims, and launched new training and public awareness efforts.

Currently, legislation to criminalise all forms of trafficking is being drafted while authorities continue improving procedures to prevent entry and exploitation of foreign victims.

Tracy on
December 10th, 2007 7:03 pm

No some posts here are wrong. Jamaicans DO NOT CATER AT ALL TO HOMOSEXUALS THEY HATE THEM AND IF THEY FIND SOMEONE IS GAY MALE IT IS ILLEGAL and the person could face a severe beating. Do not beleive that nonesense. Black people dislike gays to the core. They do cater to white women though.

Tourism has gone up, Jamaica is a beautiful island and is lots of FUN.

You know what disturbs me about these cases? The fact that I know that there are a lot of black girls from the Caribbean who have gone missing in countries like the United States and Europe and nobody ever utters a “peep”, but when it’s the other way around, ie. a young attractive white girl missing in one of the Caribbean islands or elsewhere where the population is majority non-white it’s a very big deal. Now, I’m not trying to justify any of this. I think it’s awful that these girls went missing and I’m sympathetic to their families; but the double standard makes me cringe. As a black Jamaican, I guarantee if I went to the United States right now as a tourist or to study abroad and went missing, no one would hear much about me in the news.

Don’t let people fool you that there is not a sex trade in the big bad United States. There is. It is the same for Europe as well and many parts of Asia. However, boycotting entire Caribbean islands because something like this happens once in a blue moon is not going to help anyone, especially those people like me who had never seen or heard of Claudia Kirschhoch or Natalee Holloway until they were in the news. Life is unfair like that, but I wish people would try to think logically as well.

Another thing which makes my blood boil is when some people, particularly Americans seem to think that every living soul who comes from the Caribbean is dirt poor especially if they’re not white, and lives in the middle of nowhere in the bush or jungle. Here is some food for thought: tourist areas are in the DEEP rural areas, and you all wouldn’t want us to stereotype you either.

Scott E Amundsen on
February 25th, 2010 7:17 pm

I am a former co-worker of Claudia Kirschhoch, who vanished from Negril, Jamaica at the end of May 2000 and has not been seen since. The idiot who posted that Jamaica “caters to the homosexual male” needs to pull her head out of her ass. Gay men and Lesbians are HATED in Jamaica and it is NOT considered a safe travel destination for them.

As to what happened to Claudia, Jamaica is well known to be a very dangerous place and it is most unwise to venture outside the borders of your particular resort. But I knew Claudia well enough to know that she was savvy enough not to make such a mistake.